a Puppis is an orange bright giant star in the constellation Puppis. At 349 light years away, it is the 364th brightest star in the Earth's sky, where it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 3.71. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 26.3 km/s relative to the Sun. Its projected Galactic orbit carries it between 20,900 and 24,300 light years from the center of the Galaxy. It came closest to the Sun 3.8 million years ago when it had brightened to magnitude 0.82 from a distance of 92 light years.